Heritage World Coin Auctions
ANA Signature Sale 3066 17 Aug 2018
View prices realized
► Sale information
Find similar lots
Great Britain
Commonwealth gold Crown 1653 MS65 NGC, 2.24g, S-3212, N-2719. Sun mm. Absolutely outstanding. Needless to say, this is the finest known specimen of a 1653 Commonwealth gold Crown, its surfaces sublime and reflective, its strike (particularly its obverse) as crisp as could be, all in line with its Gem-level grade assigned by NGC. The 3 in the date appears to have been punched over a 2 or perhaps a misplaced 3; the short 11-year series of Commonwealth coinage was plagued with an exceptionally large amount of overdates, badly-punched letters and blundered legends, and this present coin is no exception. The Commonwealth coinage was introduced in 1649 to mark Parliament's victory over Charles I and monarchy as a whole, and Oliver Cromwell likely took vindictive pleasure in removing any likeness of a King or Queen, and changing the decadent Latin legends to more Puritan English. These new coins were loathed for their ugliness, and dubbed 'breeches money' in reference to the twin shields of England and Ireland resembling a pair of trousers, a factor which did not stop the Mint producing vast quantities of these coins. The present offering, however, manages to display this same design so detested by the 17th century English public in an exceptional level of beauty; a truly superb Gem. Part of the famed Kroisos collection, this same coin sold raw in 2008 for a hammer price of $12,600. This is the final issue for the hammered gold Crown coin, replaced ten years later with the milled coinage of Charles II, and will not disappoint whomever is lucky enough to own it next!
Ex. Kroisos Collection
HID02901242017
Estimate: 13000-16000 USD
Commonwealth gold Crown 1653 MS65 NGC, 2.24g, S-3212, N-2719. Sun mm. Absolutely outstanding. Needless to say, this is the finest known specimen of a 1653 Commonwealth gold Crown, its surfaces sublime and reflective, its strike (particularly its obverse) as crisp as could be, all in line with its Gem-level grade assigned by NGC. The 3 in the date appears to have been punched over a 2 or perhaps a misplaced 3; the short 11-year series of Commonwealth coinage was plagued with an exceptionally large amount of overdates, badly-punched letters and blundered legends, and this present coin is no exception. The Commonwealth coinage was introduced in 1649 to mark Parliament's victory over Charles I and monarchy as a whole, and Oliver Cromwell likely took vindictive pleasure in removing any likeness of a King or Queen, and changing the decadent Latin legends to more Puritan English. These new coins were loathed for their ugliness, and dubbed 'breeches money' in reference to the twin shields of England and Ireland resembling a pair of trousers, a factor which did not stop the Mint producing vast quantities of these coins. The present offering, however, manages to display this same design so detested by the 17th century English public in an exceptional level of beauty; a truly superb Gem. Part of the famed Kroisos collection, this same coin sold raw in 2008 for a hammer price of $12,600. This is the final issue for the hammered gold Crown coin, replaced ten years later with the milled coinage of Charles II, and will not disappoint whomever is lucky enough to own it next!
Ex. Kroisos Collection
HID02901242017
Estimate: 13000-16000 USD